It was a complete accident that we ended up staying ON an island in Lake Titicaca. We knew we were in for a unique experience but didn’t quite understand the depth of it until we were standing on the island, with our Spanish speaking family, alone. No other tourists, just us and our new family! What an insightful and interesting couple of days it was.

Arriving into the town of Puno after a long bus journey from Cusco, we were not entirely confident we were going to be picked up at the other end. Communication had been disjointed and unclear at best. Luckily, there was a sign with our name on it when we got off the bus and we were chauffeured in a van ten minutes down the road, not to a dock, but to a muddy, slippery area on the side of the lake where a weathered old row boat and its owners were waiting for us. They introduced themselves as our ‘nueva familia’, Lorenzo and Maria, and they escorted us in the rickety old boat, through the long winding path of reeds, out to the Uros Islands. Their lifelong home and a surrounding community finally appeared beyond the reeds and it was like nothing we had seen before. Hand-made, FLOATING islands, with houses, churches and whole communities living on top!

Lorenzo and Marias island had been made by them around 15 years earlier and their family of three sons, their wives and five grandchildren lived there with them. We had our own room made from reeds which had been decorated inside with traditional colourful hand-woven blankets pinned to the walls. Astoundingly, they had power generated from solar panels they had installed, so we had light and charging power in our room too! Although that was about as far as the luxury travelled, we had no shower, no running water and a toilet that was housed in a three-walled room, with a sheet hanging as a door and about enough leg room for a Peruvian dwarf. Let’s say, the toilet experience required thighs of steel and tactical ergonomics. Lorenzo told us that they shower once a week by swimming in the lake, but they are working towards running water in the future! So, Adam decided to do as a local would and went for a swim in Lake Titicaca, a moment the kids found highly amusing and entertaining.

After settling in on our first day, we spent our first part of the afternoon being entertained by the grandchildren. It was all going swimmingly with the boys bringing out their soccer jerseys and shoes to show us. It was two against one, Adam verses the 5 and 3-year-old boys. Once the initial niceties were over the boys started to get a bit cheekier and the challenge to get the ball past each other a little more adventurous. It all took a turn for the worse when Adam firmly struck the ball towards the guarded goal posts and it went flying forward, straight into the face of the 3-year-old. He immediately dropped to the mushy, reed ground and the water works began. Luckily the adults were no where to be found so we attempted the distraction method and got on with the game. The little man however never really got over it and didn’t come near us for the next 2 days!

We then had a 10year old granddaughter approach us and in Spanish ask us if she could sing us a song. We agreed and she proceeded to sing us a shortened version of ‘Frere Jacques’ in six different languages. We were so impressed and delighted that we were finally having a genuine ‘non-tourist’ experience, UNTIL she dipped her hat and asked for money. What a shame for us and a sad existence for her.

Waking up after the most freezing sleep we had ever had, Lorenzo was ready to take us on our own personalised island tour. Initially in his motorised dingy he took us to an area where the large tourist boats were banned, and he showed us how to cut and collect the reeds to rebuild the island. We then moved on to the fishing nets, he turned off the boats motor and donned a giant gondola style paddling pole and waded us through the shallow waters, lifting the communal nets up out of the water and gathering the tiny fish that had been caught. We managed to collect around 20 small fish which we took back and fed to his trout in the small fish farm he had created with tarps on his island. This adventure to the fishing area was by far the most picturesque for me. There were mountains in the far distance, vast expanses of reed filled water and the most stunning reflection of clouds as far as we could see. The sky was perfectly blue and the sun was shining. It was truly tranquil, and I loved that it was just us, no other tourists, just our ‘casa padre’ Lorenzo and two English speaking Australians!

On our way back to the island we needed fuel for the boat and Lorenzo luckily spotted the portable market, so we pulled up alongside him to fill up. It was a similar weathered boat to ours and carried a variety of packaged food and drinks, fresh fish and eggs (of course lying in the sun), and fuel for the boats which was siphoned out through a funnel and into our tank. Such an intriguing and interesting way of life! On arrival back to the island we placed the new reeds on the ground and Lorenzo conducted a demonstration of how to make ‘taxi romantica’ figurines out of reeds. They make all sorts of tiny figures which they sell at the ‘artisan market’ on one of the other islands. Again, another surprise tourist moment came where the granddaughter appeared with hand woven pillow cases and tea towels to sell us! We couldn’t escape it!

The afternoon consisted of a ride in the huge ‘Mercedes Benz’ boat, which was meticulously hand made with a collection of plastic bottles, wrapped in reeds. We were told the boats took around 10 months to construct and lasted for around 3 years. The locals created these huge boats decorated with dragon heads as a tourist attraction and used them as a luxury, albeit extremely slow, vessel to travel the islands! We also had the opportunity to climb the look-out tower and get a bird’s eye view of the island community. An afternoon to ourselves was followed by soup for dinner and another early night. We were pinned down under our 10 heavy blankets before 8pm.

The following day we had been promised an early morning fishing trip before heading back into the main land to catch our bus to Bolivia. We woke to pouring rain, a cancelled fishing trip (thank goodness) and no sign of Lorenzo or Maria. Eventually we figured out they had gone for a last-minute dash to fill up on petrol. They packed the boat, covering our bags with tarps, and tucked us in by covering us with blankets and ponchos and off we went. After this initial boat ride, our day consisted of a taxi, bus, border crossing, bus, ferry, bus and taxi. We did however safely arrive in La Paz, Bolivia!! Although exhausted and stinky but very welcome at the family run hotel we had chosen.

Our island experience was like no other. I feel the biggest disappointment of the trip for me was our lack of Spanish. Our inability to adequately communicate, to really get to know the locals and to show them who we are has left an unfilled feeling inside. All the questions I wish I could ask, all the information that is standing there in front of me that I cannot access. Our little Spanish did make a huge difference and we think we generally got the gist of very basic conversation, I just wish we had more! Hopefully next time.